An SDLP councillor remains in intensive care in South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) but is no longer receiving care on a ventilator and is “starting to respond”.

Erne East Councillor Garbhan McPhillips (37) took ill at the weekend and was admitted to SWAH on Monday morning with meningitis.

His symptoms developed suddenly on Sunday after a family trip to Donegal.

His father, Richie McPhillips told this newspaper on Wednesday afternoon: “Thanks be to God, he’s turning a corner.”

He said: “The ventilator is off and he’s starting to respond.”

Mr. McPhillips, a former SDLP MLA for the area said his son is getting stronger day by day and wished to pay tribute to medical staff in the ICU and the Emergency Department.

Councillor McPhillips (37) began to feel unwell on Sunday when returning from a family trip with his wife Claire and children Aurora (6) and Thomas (4) from Donegal and suspected he had the early signs of a flu and went straight to his bed when he arrived home in Lisnaskea.

Mr. McPhillips explained: “Garbhan went straight to bed when he came home.

“He is an avid Man United fan and didn’t watch the semi-final on Sunday and his condition got worse as the night went on.

“He had a temperature, he was vomiting and was in very bad form and he basically diagnosed himself at about five or six o’clock in morning as he said to Claire his wife, ‘I think I have meningitis’ because he had the rash on his arms and chest and the high temperature.

“She did a check on him with the glass and it [the rash] disappeared, a short time later he said to her ‘Claire, you may get me an ambulance’ because obviously, he knew he was in bad shape because for Garbhan to say the like of that, he would have to be in bad shape”, explained his father.

Councillor McPhillips was then taken to SWAH by his wife at around 7am on Monday morning and was admitted to the ICU.

Praising the work of the staff at the SWAH on behalf of the family, Mr. McPhillips said: “They have gone beyond the call of duty. The amount of work they did, it was tremendous, and we are really pleased with what they have done.”

The family have been comforted by the prayers said and candles lit across the country for Councillor McPhillips: “We are indebted to so many people, the amount of candles that have been lit and the amount of prayers that have been said for him all over the country.

“Claire and the children, they will be eternally grateful,” said Mr. McPhillips.

Mr. McPhillips wished to acknowledge the quick thinking of his daughter-in-law, he said: “I couldn’t compliment my daughter-in-law enough for acting the way she did and got him in.”

Emphasising the importance of acting fast in suspected cases of meningitis, Mr. McPhillips concluded by saying: “The message we want to get across is for people not to hang about and to act quickly because sometimes minutes can mean so much.”